A 26-year-old Egyptian man died of bird flu on Wednesday, the third member of his extended family to die of the virus, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official told Reuters.

Rida Farid Abdel Halim from the Nile Delta province of Gharbia had been in hospital for 10 days, Hassan el-Bushra, WHO regional adviser for communicable diseases surveillance, said.

It was the 10th death from bird flu in Egypt since an outbreak of the virus started in February.

According to Bushra, Egypt had no other bird flu patients receiving treatment. Eight Egyptians had contracted the disease and recovered.

The man showed symptoms of the disease on Dec. 14 and was admitted to a rural hospital three days later. He started receiving Tamiflu treatment on Dec. 20 after a second case appeared in his family and the medical staff learned that he may have come into contact with poultry, Bushra said.